Cardiff: England captain Andrew Strauss has conceded that with next year’s World Cup on the horizon, his side do not have long left to find a winning formula in one-day cricket.

Injuries to the likes of Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles and Stephen Harmison have seen Alastair Cook, Jamie Dalrymple and Stuart Broad all handed their one-day International debuts this season. But even before their fitness problems, England’s record in one-dayers was poor.

They have won four of their last 20 ODIs and during their current home campaign, a 0-5 one-day series defeat against Sri Lanka has been bookended by Twenty20 reverses against both Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

With their World Cup opener barely six months away, England are running out of time to find the elusive winning line-up. “The World Cup is not that far away now and you don’t want to be experimenting too close to the World Cup,” Strauss admitted. (AFP)